Arizona State University's Thunderbird School of Global Management will soon move to downtown Phoenix after operating in Glendale for 72 years.

But questions remain — along with a push to preserve portions of the site that once was a flying field to train World War II pilots — about redeveloping the 140-acre campus at 59th Avenue and Greenway Road.

The campus is surrounded by central Glendale neighborhoods that sprouted in the 1970s and 1980s; decades of big growth for the city.

Gary Richards, who lives nearby, said he doesn't mind the school moving, but he would hate to see gas stations and strip malls take the place of the campus landscaped with trees and largely low-slung tan buildings.

University campus to commercial/ residential area

Student at ASU's Thunderbird School of Global Management will be moving from Glendale to Downtown Phoenix, leaving behind a large chunk of land for redevelopment.(Photo: Nick Oza, Nick Oza/The Arizona Republic )

ASU President Michael Crow said the site would eventually be a mix of commercial and residential development, but didn't offer specifics when the move was announced in December.

ASU plans to eventually sell the land, he said.

"We are currently working with the City of Glendale to evaluate all potential options and establish zoning that will benefit the community," an ASU spokeswoman told The Arizona Republic.

Councilman Ray Malnar, who represents the area, said ASU will present its master plan to the council within two to six months.

"They're not just going to sell (the land) to a developer," Malnar said. "They want to develop it, zone it, create something that's going to be good for the city, good for the citizens, good for them."

Finding a better use?

Erin Schneiderman, director of special events, has her boxes ready to move from ASU's Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale to downtown Phoenix.(Photo: Nick Oza, Nick Oza/The Arizona Republic )

Glendale City Manager Kevin Phelps told The Arizona Republic that he and staff are talking with ASU, but it's still early in the redevelopment process.

The land is unique, Phelps said, as it's 140 acres of contiguous land with major infrastructure already in place — a rarity in Glendale and other Valley cities.

Phelps said the land is underutilized as the small student campus it had become and that apartments and restaurants would spur far more foot-traffic. He said that he hopes some residential development will include luxury apartments to attract working Millennials to the region — a challenge among suburban cities.

“There's going to be some preservation — that's just got to be part of it, and I think everybody understands that.”

Ray Malnar, Glendale city councilman

Phelps also wants more high-end office space as Glendale is currently at 98 percent capacity on its Class A office space, hesaid.

RL Brown, a Phoenix-area real estate researcher, said the campus is large enough to attract office tenants, despite not being right off a major freeway. The campus is about four miles south of Loop 101, and 1.5 miles from Glendale's largest private employer, Banner Thunderbird Medical Center. Brown said the site's proximity to the hospital would attract tenants and retail customers.

"There's always a demand for auxiliary (medical) services and there's always a demand for residential services for hospital employees and those associated with it," Brown said.

The redevelopment could bolster nearby strip malls. "A new use by a competent, quality developer would probably rejuvenate the entire area," Brown said.

Phelps said he wants the project designed in a way that makes the most sense — even if the process takes a little longer.

"If we're going to do this, let's be committed to doing it right rather than doing it quickly," Phelps said. "And let's do it in a way where everybody walks out of the process feeling really good about it."

Pleas for preservation

CONTROL TOWER THEN | The historic air control tower, which was built in 1941, also served as officers’ quarters while operating the Thunderbird #1 Army Airfield in Glendale.(Photo: Thunderbird School of Global Management)

Ron Short, president of the Glendale Arizona Historical Society, wants to see preservation.

Before the school opened there in 1946, the site was known as Thunderbird Field No. 1. It opened in 1941 as the first U.S. Army air-training base in the Phoenix area.

“If we're going to do this, let's be committed to doing it right rather than doing it quickly.”

Kevin Phelps, Glendale city manager

When others, such as Thunderbird Field No. 2 (now Scottsdale Airport), Luke Field (now Luke Air Force Base) and Williams Air Force Base (now Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport) opened shortly after, the Valley became one of the largest pilot-training hubs in the country.

Short has urged ASU to preserve buildings from that era, including an air traffic-control tower, pub, Founder's Hall and the one hangar that remains on the site.

The air tower had closed in 2006 for safety reasons but reopened in 2011 after Thunderbird students raised $2.5 million to refurbish the tower with a student lounge, pub, shop and other amenities.

"The buildings were laid out like a Thunderbird ... the mythical bird with the air-control tower as the head, Founder's Hall as the body, the dorms as the wings and the gardens as the feathers," Short said.

Malnar is confident that key remnants of the Thunderbird campus will remain intact.

CONTROL TOWER NOW | The campus still contains many original airfield buildings, including the airfield control tower, barracks, and one large airplane hangar.(Photo: Thunderbird School of Global Management)

"There's going to be some preservation — that's just got to be part of it, and I think everybody understands that," he said.

Malnar said his vote on approving a master plan will depend on support for historical preservation, particularly for the control tower and pub. That said, he acknowledged a solution would likely require compromise.

"Not everybody is going to get what they want," Malnar said. "I doubt I'll see 100 percent of what I'd like. I have a lot of things — I'd like to see some education component — and I'd really support that. But that may or may not fit. We'll have to see how that all fits together."

Dwindling enrollment

Thunderbird's current enrollment of about 400 students is a fraction of the 1,600 students that attended the school in the 1990s.

Thunderbird spokesman Jay Thorne said the decline was due to market changes and tightened visa restrictions that came after Sept. 11 and impacted international students.

Jay Thorne, Executive Director Chief Marketing & Communication Officer gives a tour of ASU's Thunderbird School of Global Management will be moving from Glendale to Downtown Phoenix, leaving behind a large chunk of land for redevelopment.(Photo: Nick Oza/The Arizona Republic)

Financial woes grew as its student body shrunk. Thunderbird reported losses of $4.1 million and $6.4 million in 2012 and 2014 respectively. ASU agreed to purchase and merge the school in December 2014, taking on Thunderbird's $22 million debt.

Despite the school's financial struggles, U.S. News and World Report consistently ranks Thunderbird as a top international business school. It's currently tied for seventh best international business school.

Glendale City Councilwoman Joyce Clark said ASU's decision to move the school was inevitable, placing blame on ASU for not putting enough resources into the university.

"ASU kind of engineered this whole scenario," Clark said. "They kept dropping programs from it until it became a shell of its former self."

Thorne said the move makes more sense, allowing students to better capitalize on other educational offerings at ASU's downtown Phoenix campus.

But it will mean change for a long-rooted area of Glendale.

Rebecca Church, who tends bar at nearby Tony's Cocktails, hopes they'll save some of the landmarks. She said she'd miss the students who would roll in after the campus pub closed at midnight.

"It was always fun," she said.

Reach reporter Perry Vandell at perry.vandell@gannett.com or 602-444-2474. Follow him on Twitter @PerryVandell.